Exclusive: Carries Well, Shoots Well

Sometimes smaller guns make the Concealed Carry Favorites list because even though they’re more difficult to shoot, they’re at least small and easy to conceal. Practice, however, does wonders to make small guns more shootable.

Sometimes larger guns make the list because while they’re difficult to conceal, they’re fantastic shooters. A little clothing creativity, however, does wonders to help conceal larger guns.

Sometimes a smaller gun shoots really well and that’s when you know you’ve got something good for concealed carry. In fact, after just a few sessions on the range and a few months of concealed carry, the Ruger LC9 headed to the top of my Concealed Carry Favorites list. Here’s why:

The Ruger LC9 is thin, lightweight and therefore easily concealed. It carries comfortably in a Versacarry or Galco Stow-N-Go holster (both are inside the waistband) without gouging my side or feeling out of balance. Yes, I wore a gun belt and yes that helped. It always does, even with smaller and lighter guns. Although you can put a shortened magazine baseplate on it, it doesn’t do all that well in a front pocket.

The Ruger LC9 is enough gun. With 7+1 rounds of 9mm on board, I’m carrying more than a typical revolver and more than enough for a civilian defensive situation.

The Ruger LC9 is feature packed. Some may disdain the magazine disconnect safety and chamber loaded indicator; that’s a discussion for another day. The LC9’s best features, however, include its long, double-action trigger pull and frame-mounted thumb safety — an interesting combination. Some prefer none of these features on a pistol and understandably so, but as long as a person follows the the basic gun safety laws and trains appropriately with them, they should not be a hinderance.

But here’s what I really like:

In my range or training sessions I am able to quickly and safely draw the Ruger LC9, sweep the safety off, and consistently put rounds into the center mass of the targets at which I am aiming. The sights, while small, are still functional enough for this kind of short range work. The double action trigger, while long, is very smooth, and doesn’t work against me in terms of accuracy or speed. And every round chambers, fires, and ejects reliably.

Like I said, sometimes you can find a gun like the Ruger LC9 that carries well and shoots well.